Organic Thailand Green Tea
This beautiful loose leaf organic green tea is an exceptional example of the high quality tea produced at Araksa Tea Garden in the Chiang Mai province in Northern Thailand. The incredibly long twisted leaves are hand roasted to a dark green with accents of downy silver bud. The wet leaf offers an aroma of sweet hay, apricot and roasted acorn squash rind, producing a clear liquor with a slight peachy hue. The taste is astringent and sparkling bright with light vegetal notes that evaporate quickly off the tongue leaving a lingering dryness.
We find this organic tea to have a similar mouthfeel to a first flush Darjeeling tea from India. Which is no surprise as the garden manager, Raju, hails from Darjeeling bringing 20 years of experience to this young tea garden producing premium micro-batch teas.
Ingredients: organic Thai green tea
Origin: Araksa Tea Garden, Baan Chang, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Araksa Tea Garden is located within the lush jungles of the Chiang Mai province in Northern Thailand just south of Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary. The soil is lush and fertile and the garden is surrounded by several buffers that create natural air and ground filtration. These buffers include banana and bamboo trees, and plants such as lemongrass which are used as natural pest control. The garden advocates against slash and burn techniques, instead encouraging long-term growth and more sustainable cash crops like lychee and longan trees.
Founded in 2014 with sustainability at the core of its vision, this young organic tea and herb garden is an example of a new wave of small artisanal tea farms which not only produce excellent tea, but simultaneously seek to revive neglected farms. Additionally, Araksa Tea Garden supports the local community through its Himmapaan Foundation which helps to repair land damaged by tourism and provides access to education by sponsoring teachers in remote mountainous schools.
Steeping Instructions
At Arbor Teas, we believe tea should be brewed to suit your personal taste. We’re happy to make recommendations to get you started, but don’t hesitate to experiment! When brewing your tea, your main considerations are tea quantity, water temperature, and steeping time. We recommend green and white teas to be steeped for 2 to 3 minutes in water heated to not-quite-boiling, just as bubbles begin to form on the bottom of the pan (approximately 170 to 180 degrees F). For the best flavor, use fresh water whenever possible. Try not to steep your tea longer than necessary, as you’ll extract undesirable bitterness from the leaves. If you want a stronger brew, don’t steep longer, just use more tea. And don’t forget to re-steep your tea leaves to get the most out of your leaf!
Looking for more info? Check out our How-To Guides and Eco-Brewing Tips!
Staff Perspectives
Sarah
"Tastes like how a summer zucchini smells when it is picked hot off the vine."
Chelsea
"The dry leaf of this tea is worth taking a moment to appreciate - it’s beautiful!"
Lea
"Such a lovely green tea, smooth with little astringency. Delicate notes of pan fried fresh spring greens."
Health Benefits
Like all true tea, green tea offers many potential health benefits. Research has found that tea (Camellia sinensis) can have many positive effects on human health, including improved cardiovascular function, cancer risk reduction, improved immune function, improved oral health, and help with weight management. Tea is also full of polyphenols, which are a class of antioxidant that help your body maintain homeostasis and balance your stress levels.
Green tea specifically is known for its array of health benefits, which have been supported by a growing number of studies. Green tea research has demonstrated that it may be an effective anticancer agent for breast cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer and prostate cancer, among others. Studies have shown a link between green tea and weight loss, and the ability to modulate energy metabolism, aid in body fat regulation, and possibly promote preferential loss in abdominal fat. Research has also shown that green tea may increase performance for short term memory tasks, as well as being increasing potency of antibiotics. Other peer-reviewed studies link green tea to healthy skin, help with lowering cholesterol, and regulating diabetes. It’s important to keep in mind that many of these studies monitor subjects who drink several cups of green tea per day.
For more information about the health benefits of green tea, and for direct sources of the above information, check out our Tea Health Benefits page!
Please note: the information above is for educational purposes only and has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
